Fagan, Henderson come alive late to get win

Close games were exactly what coach Aaron Green wanted for his Oak Ridge boys basketball team, but maybe just not this early.

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By Robert Holder

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Robert Holder

Posted Nov. 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Updated Nov 16, 2012 at 6:38 PM

By Robert Holder

Posted Nov. 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Updated Nov 16, 2012 at 6:38 PM

OAK RIDGE

Close games were exactly what coach Aaron Green wanted for his Oak Ridge boys basketball team, but maybe just not this early.

The Wildcats were taken to the brink deep in the fourth quarter before senior Cory Fagan bailed out his team with a 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining, and he and junior Jaylin Henderson made key free throws to get the win over Knoxville Catholic 58-53 in the season opener for both schools.

“That’s what you expect out of your seniors,” coach Green said. “To step up and make that shot was huge. For him to step up and say I’m going to step up and make the next one ... I am glad he did.”

Fagan, who is normally a hot shooter but coming off of a hand injury, was held scoreless in the first half but finished with 10 points — including five in the final minute of play.

Henderson paced the team throughout the tightly contested game with 14 points.

The Irish dictated play with their offense slowing down the ’Cats (1-0). Oak Ridge took it’s biggest lead of the game on an 8-0 run in the second quarter to put them up 22-16 on a layup by Demaurey McClanahan, who got an assist from Henderson, but Oak Ridge could not run away with it. The lead changed and the game was tied 10 times each.

With the game tied at 36 at the start of the fourth quarter, Catholic (0-1) kept drawing contact and putting in free throws but a rare miss by center Chris Cox allowed Fagan to come down the court, get open and hit the 3-pointer on the wing to go ahead by two. A missed field goal later, Henderson hit two free throws, and Fagan iced the game away, hitting three of four at the line, a surprise for coach Green.

Isaac Merian had 12 for Oak Ridge while Xavier Maddox and Kevin Steen had eight.

The Wildcats will have a week to meld the football players back into the team before traveling to Fulton for a pair of early tests against the Falcons and Knoxville West, in a rematch of last year’s Region 2-AAA semifinal game, at the PrepXtra Classic on Nov. 20.

“You feel like you have to start over,” Green said. “We will try to focus on us and get better.”